Hey! Just your friendly neighbourhood dhairyasood748 here! (If you don't get where the quote is from, you're not worthy to read this fic anymore. :P)
I am late! But I really had to think while doing this chapter. In between I didn't have any inspiration, or ideas, but when I thought calmly and while focusing only on the task at hand, they came back to me!
I would like to take this moment to thank all the good sirs and madams who reviewed, for their kind words.
Aussiemerica16: Thank you for your kind words. Suggestion will be taken into consideration. I'm not giving him a familiar now, I have time.
kitten198485: Taken into consideration. As I said, I'm not giving him a familiar now.
WhiteElfElder: Nah… That'd be too much… Besides, it's too similar to Prometheus. He'll do something else. See in this chapter. No offense.
DRAGONDAVE45: Thanks. Well, that's Tantalus for you. Yes, I know she can, but he can't actually talk to her now, can he? Besides I want to give Harry a familiar that's actually connected to his mother. And we'll talk about Neville later. Good suggestion about him, though.
Rin Medeis: Again, same reason as DRAGONDAVE45, Hedwig isn't connected to his mother, though he still has a connection with her and holds her dearly, and he can't actually talk to her.
Angel Winx: Taken into consideration. Thank you for your suggestion.
SoulfulKarma668: Nah… Way too… I don't know, simple, I guess? No offense.
randomthingreader: Whoa, whoa, calm down there, buddy, here you go. No need to make such harsh demands. (:P)
Link: Está bien. Su sugerencia de nombre ha sido tomada en consideración. Me gustaría expresar mi gratitud por la revisión y la sugerencia. Debería agradecerle la revisión y la sugerencia, como ya lo he hecho, no a usted por el capítulo. Sin embargo, acepto su gratitud.
P.S. Utilicé el traductor de google.
Edub102: Thank you.
Timelord2511: Thanks. By the way, I'm a male.
aradia1967: Thank you, good sir or madam.
LORD POTTER-BLACK69: Advice taken, and thank you.
rb677112: There you go.
So - onward to the story!
Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius wouldn't have died. If I owned Percy Jackson, Luke would have never died, but rather redeemed himself before his possession by Kronos at the end of Battle of the Labyrinth.
-Line Break-
He was under his invisibility cloak, making his way towards Tantalus after having sneaked off from the campfire to get the cloak, who was announcing that the harpies would be enforcing curfew from tonight.
You guessed right, he finally snapped.
Well, you can't really blame him, the world-class jerk annoyed him from the moment he first laid eyes on him, and tonight, Harry's patience finally snapped.
Just as the campers were about to leave the campfire, he levitated Tantalus up in the air, using the simple first year leviating charm, then made him roll through the air, and then bounced him down painfully on the ground about 5 (or 6) times, and he yelped in utter pain.
"Wh-Wha-What is-What sorcery is this!?" He shouted when in air, between yelps.
Harry then, bored with the bouncing, pinned him down to the ground with a spell.
Dead silence. Then a snort. Then a few giggles. Then full-fledged laughter.
He then started tickling him, sending Tickling Hexes after Tickling Hexes towards him, that is.
Tantalus, funnily enough, was doing a mix of wincing and laughing. Wincing from probably the pain in the bones that Harry had broken during bouncing him, and laughing from the Tickling Hexes. He would wince, then try to hold back laughter, then end up bursting out laughing like an explosive from a cannon, and continue laughing for a few (about 10) seconds.
Most of the campers by now were holding their sides from laughing.
He then got bored with that again, and laid Tantalus on the ground. He waited for him to yell threats, which came just a moment later.
"When I find out who did this, I'll-" Tantalus didn't get to finish, because Harry silenced him. After that, despite his absolute pain, Harry sent a Tarantallegra at him. Tantalus got up at once, so quickly in fact that Harry thought he heard a crack from his back, and started tap-dancing, wincing and yelping every second. He looked absolutely ridiculous at it, mind you.
When he got bored with watching that as well, he again levitated him up and kept levitating him until he was about 13 feet high then dropped him. He enjoyed his screams of terror as he fell, stopping him when he was a foot from the ground. He slammed him down on the ground, similar to the way he did to Gabe. Speaking of Gabe, Harry idly wondered what Percy did to him.
Harry shot a Full Body-Bind at him, and levicorpus-ed him, and left him. He seemed to be doing that to every person who annoyed him. Last summer, he'd used it on Gabe, and before that on two Ares's girls… Huh, it might as well become his signature finisher. Ha, ha. Very funny.
The whole camp, meanwhile, was doubling over with laughter.
Percy had an evil smirk on his face, which just proved he knew exactly what was going on. Annabeth also seemed satisfied. Heck, even Neville was smiling, even though he was looking around Tantalus, brows furrowed. Which proved that he knew that Harry was behind this but confused as to why he couldn't see him.
As to Neville, Harry noticed some changes. He looked more confident, and happy. He was also wearing a bracelet, a golden one with strikes of green, on his left hand.
Speaking of the Ares Cabin, he was glad that they weren't here, otherwise they would have informed Tantalus of Harry's magic. Clarisse had gone to consult the Oracle, and the others had gone to their cabin to do Zeus knows what. (or did he?)
Harry returned to his cabin, satisfied.
-Line Break-
Once in his cabin he levitated all his clothes and his broom to his trunk, one by one, neatly folded and closed the trunk. He shrunk it, and placed it in his silver backpack. It already contained his laptop and gringotts card, along with a magical tent, for emergencies, inside it. It also contained a basic first-aid kit, a ziploc bag of ambrosia squares, and a flask of nectar. Nicked from the infirmary. Despite the camp's infirmary providing aid in case of injuries, Harry had his own supply of first-aid and and ambrosia and nectar. The healers were mostly of the Apollo Cabin, so they cooperated with him and lended them to him.
He walked through the forest and out of the cabin, under his invisibility cloak of course, to Cabin 3. Half-way there, he heard shouts coming from… the beach?
Listening more closely, he made out words. Help! Please! Holy Hecate, that was Percy's voice! He threw off his invisibility cloak, holding it in his hand instead, and broke out into a run. He was very fast, and he knew that.
He reached the beach, and beneath the sand dune, he found Percy perfectly fine and safe, staring at four yellow duffle bags and a flask and a bottle on the ground, as if they'd just fallen from the sky. It confused him a lot.
Harry heard Annabeth's voice shouting Percy's name, and he turned. Just as he did, she emerged from behind the sand dune, Tyson following.
"Harry! What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard-" Annabeth didn't finish, apparently noticing Percy staring at the waves. She ran off towards him, Harry and Tyson following.
"What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard you calling for help!"
"Me, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'"
"I didn't call you guys," Percy said. "I'm fine."
Harry, meanwhile, had bent down and was examining the flask. His eyes widened. No fucking way…
"Merlin's beard! This is the collectors from Hercules Busts Heads. First season! And before you ask, I do get bored sometimes." He added and kept it back down.
"The what?" Annabeth asked, giving Harry a weird look.
"It's a show. On Hephaestus TV. Hermes said the same thing. Though-"
"Wait. Hermes?" Annabeth cut him off.
Next, Percy recited his conversation with Hermes. Apparently, Hermes wanted them to go anyway (which they would have, well, at least Harry) and not just acquire the fleece, but 'save' Luke as well.
Harry snorted. "Oh yes. And that conversation will go spectacularly. I can see it now. 'Hey Luke, guess what? Your dad sent us here to save you from the influence of your evil big mean nasty great-grandfather, and make you come back home to Camp Half-Blood.' And I'm sure he'll come like good boys, not try to kill us at all. What happened to Percy last summer was totally an accident."
"My thoughts exactly. But anyway, we need to go now, or be eaten by the camp harpies. Tantalus mentioned about them enforcing curfew from tonight. Oh, by the way, speaking of Tantalus, what you did to him was hilarious. He totally deserved it." Percy (surprise, surprise) said, amusement visible in his eyes.
Screeching could be heard in the distance. Speak of the devil.
"Well, he said your father would be able to help, right Percy? So what're you waiting for, Seaweed Brain?"
Percy nodded and stepped into the waves.
"Um, Dad?" Percy called. "How's it going?"
"Percy!" Annabeth whispered. "We're in a hurry!"
"We need your help," He called a little louder. "We need to get to that ship, like, before we get eaten and stuff, so…"
Harry, not very fond of seas (because of a prank played by the Stolls in the middle of Christmas break, which involved the camp's frozen lake and Harry), reached into his backpack and pulled out his trunk. He set it on the ground, and unshrunk it.
He picked up his broom, which lay just above his neatly folded and arranged clothes. Even though it had been almost a year since he received it, he was still fascinated by its beauty and skill. He just couldn't get used to it. He placed his invisibility cloak, after folding it neatly, back inside the trunk and closed the lid, and latched it. He shrunk back his trunk and dropped it into his silver backpack.
Annabeth, who had been watching him curiously, nodded in understanding at him. She was there during the prank. Together, they had taken to build up a master-prank for Harry's revenge. They were still working on it. It just required a last review, and some final touches.
On the other hand, Tyson's cry of "Fish ponies!" caused his head to move towards the shore.
At the shore, three creatures neared the beach, and as they did so, the surf burst apart and the heads of three white stallions reared out of the waves.
Tyson was right. As the creatures pulled themselves onto the sand, Harry saw that they were only horses in the front; their back halves were silvery fish bodies, with glistening scales and rainbow tail fins.
Poseidon must've known two things: 1)Tyson was one of the passengers, as one hippocampus was much larger than the other two- just right for carrying a Cyclops; and 2) Harry not liking sea travel very much, as there were only three of the 'fish ponies'.
"Hippocampi!" Annabeth said. "They're beautiful."
The nearest one whinnied in appreciation and nuzzled Annabeth.
"We'll admire them later," Percy said. "Come on!"
"There!" a voice screeched behind them. "Bad children out of cabins! Snack time for lucky harpies!"
Harry, at that moment, jumped on his broom and hovered above. "Percy!" Harry called urgently. "Hurry!"
"Tyson!" Percy said. "Grab a duffel bag!"
He was still staring at the hippocampi with his mouth hanging open, "Tyson!"
"Uh?"
"Come on!"
With Annabeth's help he got him moving. They gathered the bags and mounted their steeds, with Percy tossing one to Harry, who caught it, shrunk it, and dropped it in his silver bag after opening it.
Percy shouted "Giddyup!" and his hippocampus turned and plunged into the waves, Annabeth's and Tyson's following right behind.
The harpies cursed at them, wailing for their snacks to come back, but the hippocampi raced over the water at the speed of Jet Skis.
It wasn't hard for Harry to cope with them, he'd flown faster at many quidditch matches. He felt very guilty about leaving Neville behind, especially since this could very possibly be the last time they would ever see the camp.
Soon, Camp Half-Blood was nothing but a dark smudge in the distance, and Harry was left with a threat in mind: If they failed, there wouldn't be any camp to return to, and this would be the last time they'd see the the place in this lifetime.
-Line Break-
When they reached the ship, Harry just got to see how truly massive the size of the ship was.
The white hull was at least ten stories tall, topped with another dozen levels of decks with brightly lit balconies and portholes. The ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters, lit with a spotlight.
PRINCESS ANDROMEDA
Attached to the bow was a huge masthead—a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she were chained to the front of the ship. She was young and beautiful, with flowing black hair, but her expression was one of absolute terror. Why anybody would want a screaming princess on the front of their vacation ship, Harry had no idea, but he immediately came to know that there was something fishy over here, which caused him to decide that he would be on his guard at all times.
He remembered the myth about Andromeda and how she had been chained to a rock by her own parents as a sacrifice to a sea monster. Clash of the Titans… He was starting to get annoyed with that movie.
"How do we get aboard?" Annabeth shouted over the noise of the waves, but the hippocampi seemed to know what the needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.
Harry could have easily landed at the deck, but he didn't as he didn't want to abandon his friends.
"You first," Percy told Annabeth.
She slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbed the bottom rung. Once she'd hoisted herself onto the ladder, her hippocampus whinnied a farewell and dove underwater.
Annabeth began to climb. Percy let her get a few rungs up, then followed her.
Finally it was just Tyson in the water. His hippocampus was treating him to 360° aerials and backward ollies, and Tyson was laughing so hysterically, the sound echoed up the side of the ship.
"Tyson, shhh!" Percy said. "Come on, big guy!"
"Can't we take Rainbow?" he asked, his smile fading.
Harry and Percy both stared at him. "Rainbow?" Percy said, with Harry thinking: Rainbow? Siriusly?
Don't look at him like that, he'd been around Sirius too much. (That too much being a few occasional visits at Hogsmeade weekends.)
The hippocampus whinnied as if he liked his new name.
"Um, we have to go," Percy said. "Rainbow … well, he can't climb ladders."
Tyson sniffled. He buried his face in the hippocampus's mane. "I will miss you, Rainbow!"
The hippocampus made a neighing that sounded very suspiciously like crying.
"Maybe we'll see him again sometime," Percy suggested.
"Oh, please!" Tyson said, perking up immediately. "Tomorrow!"
Percy didn't make any promises, but he finally convinced Tyson to say his farewells and grab hold of the ladder. With a final sad whinny, Rainbow the hippocampus did a back-flip and dove into the sea.
Harry shot him a sympathetic look from his broom, which he caught.
Once all of them had reached the top, Harry safely touched down, and repeated the standard procedure for placing his broom back in the trunk and the trunk back in his backpack.
The ladder led to a maintenance deck stacked with yellow lifeboats. There was a set of locked double doors, which was taken care of by a simple Alohomora, courtesy of Harry.
Harry first figured we'd have to sneak around, being stowaways and all, but after checking a few corridors and peering over a balcony into a huge central promenade lined with closed shops, he began to realize there was nobody to hide from. Sure, it was the middle of the night and all, but they'd walked half the length of the boat and met no one. They'd passed forty or fifty cabin doors and heard no sound behind any of them.
His eyes narrowed. There was something very fishy going on here. Oh well. Just another clue.
"It's a ghost ship," Percy murmured.
"No," Tyson said, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Bad smell."
That caused Harry look at him sharply. He knew Cyclopes could sense monsters or deities just as well as satyrs, and most monsters weren't exactly known for being clean and hygienic or putting on AXE Body Spray.
"What kind of smell?"
"Something bad," Tyson answered.
"Great," Annabeth grumbled. "That clears it up."
Another clue. Good lord, was this Sherlock Holmes?
They came outside on the swimming pool level. There were rows of empty deck chairs and a bar closed off with a chain curtain. The water in the pool glowed eerily, sloshing back and forth from the motion of the ship.
Above them fore and aft were more levels- a climbing wall, a putt-putt golf course, a revolving restaurant, but no sign of life.
"We need a hiding place," Percy said. "Somewhere safe to sleep."
"Sleep," Annabeth agreed wearily. Harry yawned, choosing to show rather voice his agreement.
They explored a few more corridors until they found an empty suite on the ninth level. The door was open, which struck Harry as suspicious. There was a basket of chocolate goodies on the table, an iced-down bottle of sparkling cider on the nightstand, and a mint on the pillow with a handwritten note that said: Enjoy your cruise!
They opened their duffel bags for the first time and found that Hermes really had thought of everything- extra clothes, toiletries, camp rations, a Ziploc bag full of cash, a leather pouch full of golden drachmas, a Ziploc bag of ambrosia squares, a flask of nectar. He'd even managed to pack Tyson's oilcloth with his tools and metal bits, and Annabeth's cap of invisibility, which made them both feel a lot better.
Harry just shrunk the bag back and placed it back in his silver one. Did he mention that he loved magic? Speaking of magic, Harry sensed a large amount of it on the quarterdeck of the ship. He could have sworn it was swirling in the air.
"I'll be next door," Annabeth said. "You guys don't drink or eat anything."
"You think this place is enchanted?"
"No, it isn't." Harry explained. "But there's a lot of magic swirling in this place. I can feel it. My advice would be to be on your guard whenever you wake up."
Annabeth nodded, giving Percy a meaningful look, and strode away.
Percy nodded, and lay down on the bed. Tyson had, after tinkering with some of the materials in his oilcloth, already passed out on the couch. Harry, seeing no other option, took out the magical tent from his bag and set it up in the corner of the room.
He went to the bedroom, well, technically sleeping-bag room, but whatever. He quickly changed into his nightclothes, and fell asleep after sometime of idle laying in his sleeping-bag.
-Line Break-
Did you like it? Name suggestions are still welcome! As I said, I have time.
For those of you who didn't figure out how Harry watched Hercules Busts Heads, he watched it on his laptop.
I apologize if you wanted to see Neville on the quest, but I didn't think he would fit in.
There is something different about Neville's bracelet. What is it? Don't you want to know? Then stay tuned to this story.
'Kay, bye! See you in the next chapter!
dhairyasood748 out.
(Please R & R.)